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Pentagon shooter had run-in with Mountain View cops JOHN PATRICK BEDELL, KILLED LAST WEEK IN WASHINGTON, D.C., WAS ARRESTED IN 2007 By Kelsey Mesher
J
ohn Patrick Bedell, the man killed after opening fire on two officers at the Pentagon last Thursday, had been arrested in Mountain View back in 2007 for violent and erratic behavior, police said. According to police records, Bedell was arrested after an encounter with a father and his then-6-yearold son while they were playing soccer at Bubb field. On Aug. 11, John Bedell 2007, police received a phone call from a man reporting that Bedell had threatened him and tried to hit him with a stick. “This man and his son were playing soccer at the school when John Patrick Bedell came up wearing no shirt and carrying a six-foot-long wooden stick,” said police spokesperson Liz Wylie. Wylie said Bedell asked if he could play soccer with the man and his son. When the father refused, Bedell got angry. According to reports, the father directed the boy to leave for home on his bicycle. He then tried to confront Bedell about his behavior. Then, Wylie said, “Bedell threatens to knock his teeth out, and starts swinging the stick around.” The father fled on his bicycle, she
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mented that they had talked to them and released them.” Soon after, Wylie said, the detective investigating the case obtained a surveillance tape from the company. Patrol officers recognized one of the men in the tape as one of those in the vehicle that evening, she said. “Since we knew who he was and had him identified, we ended up getting a search warrant,” she said.
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per called police after discovering a vandalized electrical junction box at the base of a light pole in the parking lot. Police found that nearly all of the 21 junction boxes at the bases of the light poles in the parking lot were damaged, Wylie said. Estimates put the stolen wiring at about $1,000, and repairing the lighting system at an additional
said, and Bedell attempted to chase him on foot. Police caught up to him up at the corner of Montalto Drive and Hans Avenue, and arrested him for brandishing a weapon, Wylie said. She added that he was never close enough to actually hit the father, so he was not charged with a more serious crime. Bedell was booked in the county jail and pleaded no contest to fighting in public. He was given 20 days of work furlough. “That’s the only contact we’ve ever had with him, and we don’t know why he was in Mountain View,” Wylie said. At the time of the incident, Bedell was reportedly living in Hollister. “There were times when he was completely coherent and he would answer our questions and do what we told him to do,” Wylie said of his time in MVPD custody. “And in between there were times when he was speaking complete nonsense.” “It was nothing that the federal government was going to want to know about,” she added. “It was the equivalent of talking about rainbows and flowers. It made absolutely no sense.” Bedell reportedly has been put on “psychological commitment holds” many times while in police custody over his life. Wylie said she could not give out information on whether Mountain View police placed him on such a hold in 2007. V
The following day, on Thursday, March 4, 18-year-old Dante Brown was arrested in his Rock Street home in Mountain View, Wylie said. He was booked into the main jail in San Jose for one count of robbery. A second suspect remains at large, she said. Wylie said some evidence was found at Brown’s residence, but she would not specify what it was. “We believe he is the one with the gun, but we did not locate the gun, she said, adding that the stolen items have not yet been recovered. V
$30,000. Wylie said police have no leads at this time, and no particular evidence to suggest the crimes are connected. Anyone with information is asked to call Mountain View police at (650) 903-6344. Copper wire theft increases when the metal’s value rises, Wylie said. The current going rate for copper is $2.95 per pound, she said, adding that people can recycle it at recycling centers without having to identify themselves.
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MARCH 12, 2010 ■ MOUNTAIN VIEW VOICE ■
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